Letter: PR and the unions

Sir: As a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union I had just finished completing my ballot form for elections to the executive council, using the single transferable vote in accordance with the union rule book, when I was astonished to read the report of your labour editor stating that our leader is to campaign against proportional representation because it is an attempt to "split apart the Labour family".

Until now it had seemed that the Conservatives' convoluted contention that first-past-the-post is really a "proportional" system, took the prize for audacious hypocrisy in the battle to preserve the status quo. It is most encouraging that the opponents of reform are being driven to such absurdities.